Government Introduces Election Act Amendments
Prince George, B.C. – The provincial government has introduced changes to the Election Amendment Act.
If passed, the government hopes the amendments will improve voter accessibility and participation.
The amendments to Bill 20 include:
*Adding two more days of advance voting
*Allowing candidates, political parties and constituency associations to send social media messages on general voting day that have the sole purpose of encouraging voters to vote in the election
*Requiring the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to provide a list of voters to registered political parties after an election that indicates which voters voted in that election
*Expanding the scope of fundraising expenses that do not count towards the election expense limits for political parties and candidates
*Shortening the deadline for candidates to file their nomination papers from the current 10th day of the campaign to the 7th day
The amendments also address other financial, administrative and communications processes identified by the CEO.
They include:
*Removing the requirement for a leadership contestant who is acclaimed and who has neither raised nor spent any fund to file a financing report
*Permitting constituency associations to incur election expenses on behalf of a candidate throughout the campaign period, rather than being restricted to the first 10 days
*Making consistent identification requirements for all individuals who vouch for another person who applies to register to vote in conjunction with voting. Currently, family members of applicants are not required to produce identity documents
If passed, the legislation will pass this spring
Comments
so what in this act amendment is of great benefit to the liberals?
I can see no other reason for the proposed amendments.
as for voter benefits…
two extra day of advance polling….
This is just a guess, but I would bet this Act Amendment will benefit all parties!
Progress!
This one I have a little trouble with…
Requiring the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to provide a list of voters to registered political parties after an election that indicates which voters voted in that election.
Although anyone can visually see me enter a polling station it would take an act of god to know whether or not I actually voted. I am not so sure I like the idea of anyone knowing that I did or did not actually cast a ballot.
I don’t like the change to fund raising..all money raised for the election should be accounted for and go against the limit.
Why hide who you got your money from? Unless you don’t want the voters to know….
I had the same concern, billyinpg. Not voting is, in itself, a political statement and identifying those who make such a statement is no different from providing a list of those who put a cross against the Liberal candidate, or the NDP’s, or of any other party in my book. That’s the voter’s business, nobody else’.
The second change listed, “Allowing candidates, political parties and constituency associations to send social media messages on general voting day that have the sole purpose of encouraging voters to vote in the election”, is also a concern since it is obviously open to abuse, even with the “sole purpose” restriction. It wouldn’t be long before an activist sends a message from a political party or constituency with a prominent letterhead or standard slogan that was used throughout the campaign and which could be claimed was not part of the message, with “Please go out and vote” just below it.
the social media addition is ripe for abuse.. Harper already violates the.. Not allowed to use tax payers money to promote the government.. So if it’s already done at the federal level it will surely be done provincially.
I don’t like this giving a list out of who voted.
I can see the robocalls increasing once they have that data.
It’s another infringement on our privacy. No one’s business if someone votes or not. Next step – mandatory voting.
harper has awakened conservatives that don’t like his coolaid . Interesting article at Thetyee . They’ve reactivated Freedominion.ca trying to take the minion out of the sheeple party . Next step mandatory voting ? Excelent idea . I’d vote YES for that . Great QP today . Steve doesn’t want to talk about the economy because he knows ITS ABOUT THE ECONOMY STUPID !
Back up guys, this is provincial and not anything to do with Harper
PVal reread and you will see it is not funds raised that will be exempt but rather some of the expenses in a fundraiser exempt from election expense totals. Some are already but they are adding a few more expenses that will not count towards the total
Are you kidding slinky ? harper has been running Bc since he co opted campbell . Gordo is likely going to come back federally with a brand new globalist veiw . They just love austerity . OAS is the next thing we’ll have to give up to fight the deficit.
Are you kidding Ataloss? These rules have ZERO affect on federal elections, there is a separate federal election act, these are just provincial election rules, and only BC provincial rules at that
This Election Amendment Act is in keeping with a police state trajectory in identifying who votes and who spoils their ballot… Call your MLA about an issue and they will surely be cross referencing with the list.
The lifting of the social media ban will likely be used to deep six candidates with the lowest of smear type politics on voting day… it will be the wild west.
More advanced polling equals a less secure ballot count.
Generally the proposal around less expense transparency opens up elections for more money buying the process.
Eagleone, how are they going to identify who votes and who spoils a ballot?
Under the current system, those of us who do show up at the polling station are afforded anonymity when we mark, don’t mark, or intentionally spoil our ballot(s) So unless they put your name on the ballot as a voter, you remain anonymous, don’t you?
metalman.
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